Crockpot Minestrone Soup

thetipsyhousewife
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Soup For Spring

A slow cooker with a rich brownish soup broth and vegtables like carrots and beans

Slow-cooked Crockpot Minestrone Soup is bursting with flavors and crafted with a hearty, homemade vegetable broth. With just a little planning ahead, you will have a great weekend meal with leftovers throughout the week.

Leftovers people actually want to eat!

This is a great recipe for any time of year. While it IS a hot soup, it is chock full of vegetables that give it a spring and summer feeling.

This soup does require a make-ahead step of making the broth, but it is worth the extra time to enjoy the richness of the vegetable broth.

There is a full, printable recipe card at the end of this post. You can also hit the print button for the recipe to come up on one screen.

From there you can screenshot this to save it to your phone.

I also have added a Pinterest button that you can use to save this recipe to your Pinterest page. If you would like to follow me on Pinterest, you can find me there as The Tipsy Housewife.

Below I have included some information regarding the ingredients. There are also techniques to help those who may need more clarification.

A package of De Cecco Mini Potato Gnocchi

Dumplings, Noodles, and Gnocchis, Oh My!

You will see in my recipe that I use a local Chicago brand of Mini Potato Dumplings. I get these in the frozen food section of a few Chicago-based grocery stores.

There are a couple of other options you can use instead of the dumplings:

One is the Mini Potato Gnocchi pictured above by the brand DeCecco. Another are the Reames products.

You can also use a regular gnocchi that is fresh. I do not pre cook my Chateau dumplings when added.

You may want to use some discretion when using a dry pasta or other products and slightly par boil them if needed before adding to the crock. This is just to make sure they are not gummy.

The potato dumplings, regular soft gnocchi, and the Reames products would not need to be par cooked. Just any dried noodle.

A package of Reames homestyle flat dumplings
These are also found in the frozen food aisle.
A spoon of mini potato dumplings on a spoon held over a bowl of minestrone soup
The addition of dumplings makes this super hearty and yummy.
A slow cooker with a rich brownish soup broth and vegtables like carrots and beans

Don’t Ask Me About My Slow Cooker

The slow cooker I use that has the sauté setting is the worst slow cooker I ever used. I yearn for a vintage model with a ceramic insert.

I think these new slow cookers with the metal inserts just basically boil the food. If you know your slow cooker runs hot, you may want to adjust the cook time and the temperature of your cooker.

If you have an old school cooker, simply sauté your veggies FIRST in a skillet before adding it to a slow cooker.

Make This In Your Instant Pot

You can make this recipe in your Instant Pot. You will just need to adjust the time and temperature based on your particular brand of Instant Pot.

I have also made this recipe on the stove and just adjusted the cook time to simmering the broth, and then the soup, on the stove.

A can of S and W Ready-Cut tomatoes

For The Love Of Italian Tomatoes

I love using these seasoned tomatoes in this soup. You do not have to use any particular brand.

Any Italian flavors will do.

Olive oil, garlic, and oregano are always great choices. Remember that this adds a lot of the flavors.

You will notice that I also use Better Than Bouillon. This is one of my favorite soup starters.

I like the vegetable one for this recipe. It adds such great depth of flavor.

A jar of Better Than Bouillon seasoned vegetable base
A spoon of parmesan cheese held over a bowl of minestrone soup
Finish this soup with great parmesan cheese. I prefer the wood one (LOL IYKYK)
An overhead shot of the finished minestrone soup with potato dumplings in a bowl

This soup is is hearty enough to be a meal on its own or you could pair it with some nice crusty bread with butter.

Yield: 8 to 10 servings

Crockpot Minestrone Soup

A slow cooker with a rich brownish soup broth and vegtables like carrots and beans

Slow-cooked minestrone soup bursting with flavors, crafted with a hearty homemade vegetable broth. With just a little planning ahead, you will have a great weekend meal with leftovers throughout the week. Leftovers people actually want to eat!

Ingredients

  • For the Broth
  • 6 to 8 C of Any Vegetables, Rough Chopped. I used onions, carrots, celery, kale, tomato, spinach, red peppers, zucchini .
  • 3 tablespoons of butter or oil of your choice
  • 8 C of Water
  • 2 tablespoons of Better Than Bouillon Veggie Bouillon
  • For The Soup
  • 3 14.5 ounces of Canned Crushed Italian Seasoned Tomatoes (see post for details)
  • 2 Cloves of Garlic Crushed
  • 1 14 ounce Can of Beans, I used Chick Peas
  • 2 C of Carrots, Diced
  • 2 C of Potatoes Diced
  • 1 C of Frozen Green Beans
  • 1 C of Frozen Corn
  • Fresh Herb of Your Choice, I used Lemon Thyme
  • 1 Bag of Frozen Mini Potato Dumplings, Gnocchi or Reames Frozen Egg Noodles Or Dumplings (see post for options)
  • Parmesan Cheese for garnish

Instructions

  1. Set your crockpot to the sauté setting and add some cooking oil. I used Olive Oil or butter. You can also sauté the veggies in a skillet before adding to the slow cooker, if your slow cooker does not have a sauté setting.
  2. Add the 6 to 8 C of random veggies that have been rough chopped.
  3. Allow them to roast in the crock, tossing them occasionally until you start smelling them. Do the same if using a skillet.
  4. Set your crock to low and set to 10 hours.
  5. Add the 8 C of water and the bouillon.
  6. Let the crockpot go for at least 10 hours. The longer the better.
  7. When you have reached the 10 hour mark, place a strainer over a large bowl and strain the broth into the bowl. It should be a deep rich brownish color.

To Make The Soup With The Homemade Broth

  1. If you want to make the soup, carry on the next steps. You can also freeze this broth at this point in small batches for future recipes.
  2. If you are making the soup, add the strained broth back to the crock pot, then add the carrots, potatoes, green beans, beans, canned tomatoes, garlic and corn to the crock. You may need to add salt and pepper at this point , taste it and see your preference. You can also add an extra tablespoon of the better than bouillon.
  3. Allow the soup to cook on low for 8 hours.
  4. At the 7 hour mark, add the mini dumplings and the fresh herb of your choice along with the beans. Drain and rinse them.
  5. Serve in a bowl with parmesan cheese and black pepper.

© thetipsyhousewife

Want another great hearty recipe? Try my Mom’s Chili!

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